We close out June with the 5th annual KIDS DAY on the 24th. Don’t miss this fun-filled day of FREE and FABULOUS kids activities and give-aways featuring Cowboy Don, Ranger Amelia, Miss Ellie, Grayson County 4H, Blue Ridge Discovery Center and the Virginia Department of Health.

July 1st is Cooking Day with Chef Jen-she’s planning lots of simple veggie recipes. It’s also Wellness Day featuring the Virginia Department of Health and Dr. Karen. We’ll also be in the 4th of July Parade in Downtown Independence.

The Wednesday Evening Market is now open every Wednesday from 4-7pm. The On-line Market is also open for your shopping convenience. So many opportunities for fresh, local products!

July 17 is the Berry Festival and our 3rd monthly Fiber Day. Start your ovens and plan to enter the Berry Pie Contest! We’ll be selling delicious berry sorbet as a fund-raiser for the Market.

July closes with Take a Break from the Interstate HWY 21 Yardsale.On the 29th the Farmers Market will include yard sale. items as well as our usual array of fabulous local products. Saturday and Sunday will see the lot filled with vendors selling a little bit of everything.

Chef Jen Cavey will conduct a free cooking demonstration July 3 during regular market hours from 9am to 2pm. Enjoy free samples and the opportunity to watch a real chef at work. Learn to use the fresh fruits and vegetables found at the Farmers Market in new and delicious ways.

Other July events include Wellness Day July 10. The Health Department will offer free. Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis or whooping cough). Be sure to get a 1-time dose of “Tdap” vaccine (the adult whooping cough vaccine) if you are younger than age 65, are 65+ and have contact with an infant, are a healthcare worker, or simply want to be protected from whooping cough, a growing concern in our schools and community. Twin County Hospital and other area health professionals will also be at the Market.

July 17th is the Berry Festival. EVERYONE is invited to enter the Berry Pie contest. There will be 2 categories: true berry pie(ie crust and berry filling) and all other berry desserts including cream pies, cobblers, crumbles and crisps. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the true berry pie as well as a 1st place for the all other category . Berries of all kinds will be featured and available for tasting. The Farmers Market will be selling berry sorbet and ice cream with berry sauces as a fund raiser. Fiber Day is also on the 17th. Featured artist Karen Simpson will demonstrate wet felting flowers from 10-11am.

The “Take a break from the Interstate” Highway 21 yard sale occurs July 24-26. The Farmers Market on Friday the 24th will include yard sale items as well as the usual offerings of locally raised fresh foods, and artisan crafts. Chef Jen will be cooking on Saturday the 25th as a fund raiser for the Market. Come shop and enjoy lunch for a good cause! The Town Park is available for the public to use Saturday the 25th and Sunday the 26th. Please contact Michelle Pridgen, Market Manager, to reserve a space: independencefarmersmarket@gmail.com or 276-768-0597.

The Market welcomes SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and offers a matching program up to $25 for fruits and vegetables thanks to a grant from Appalachian Sustainable Development, and Wholesome Wave.

Friday, May 8 is the Grand Opening of the 2015 Independence Farmers Market, beginning the regular market season every Friday from 9am to 2pm until the second Friday in October. The Market is held in the Independence Town Park at the corner of Highways 21 and 58 across from the Historic Court House in downtown Independence, Virginia.

It’s been a long cold winter, with local farmers working hard to have fresh greens, meats, baked goods, jams, crafts, potted plants of herbs and flowers and vegetables, and other agricultural products available for purchase. 2015 will be an exciting year at the Market, showcasing the diversity of agricultural products and talents in our area.

To celebrate spring at the May 8th opening, a special seed display, staffed by Cynthia Taylor of Grayson LandCare, will have free milkweed seeds, Asclepias syriaca, for you to take home and plant. Milkweed is the favored food of the Monarch butterfly, and LandCare is highlighting pollinator plants this year.

Additionally,that day, the Market will have seed displays, a demonstration on how to save your own tomato seeds, and free seeds of flowers and vegetables for kids to plant at the Market. If you have free seeds to share, you are welcome to bring them along for others to use.

Special Fiber Days are usually the third Friday of the month, except for the very first Fiber Day, May 22. Libby Kahn will offer a mini-class on how to skirt raw wool. Bring a fleece or two for skirting and cleaning. There will be wools and yarns and handmade items of lambs wool, mohair, and other natural fibers from local sheep, goats, rabbits, and alpacas.

Free cooking demonstrations with recipes are scheduled on the first Friday of each month, beginning June 5. These are co-sponsored by the Virginia Tech Family Nutrition Program.

And the youngsters are not forgotten! Free Kids Activities are planned each Friday from 10 to 11 am, with a special Kids’ Day on June 26. Among other festivities that day, Don Call will be back to demonstrate roping and give free lessons.

More special programs are held monthly, with the first event on June 12, Herb Day, led by Ellen Reynolds of Beagle Ridge Herb Farm.

July 17 is the Annual Berry Festival, with berries on sale, and a chance for you to enter your favorite berry pie in the contest.

August 7 is the Annual Tomato Day. Taste the variety of tomatoes to see what to grow or buy at the Market, and even enter the salsa contest!

September 4 is Pepper Day, featuring a chance to taste multiple types of peppers available at the Market.

October 9 is the final day of the Market, and it is Apple Day, featuring not only apples from local orchards, but you can bring along your apples and press them! And of course, you can bring an apple pie for the apple pie contest!

The Market accepts SNAP benefits and offers a $10 match thanks to a grant from Appalachian Sustainable Development and Wholesome Wave. For more information, please contact Michelle Pridgen, Market Manager at independencefarmersmarket@gmail.com or 276-768-0597. Follow us on Facebook.